In an article published in the state-run People's Liberation Army Daily, and repeated as the main opinion item in the English-language China Daily, China said the Pentagon had got it wrong.

"Based upon Washington's long-held position that China is a potential challenger to US strategic interests in the Asia Pacific, the report wantonly misrepresents China's strategic goals and defense policies," it said.

The annual report to Congress, released in late July, said Beijing was annually adding 75 short-range missiles across from Taiwan and acquiring or developing weapons and tactics aimed at countering technologically superior US forces.

It cited one Chinese military publication, Junshi Wenzhai, as claiming China already had a trump card to counter US air superiority in the western Pacific: simultaneous attacks on aircraft carriers with fighter bombers, submarines, anti-ship missiles, torpedoes and mines.

Besides acquiring modern Russian-designed fighter aircraft, destroyers and submarines, China also is taking aim at the United States's high-tech edge with cyber and electronic warfare capabilities, as well as efforts to develop radiofrequency weapons and possibly anti-satellite weapons, the US report said.

The newspapers denied China was bent on building its military capability, saying the country had no tradition of conquest.

"The fact is that China has never desired or developed the kind of military capability necessary for strategic expansion," they said, adding that such a theory was in marked contrast to China's primary goals of developing its economy and improving living conditions.

"As a developing nation, China's top priority is to safeguard national security and create a peaceful international environment for its economic construction," the papers said.

They blasted the "concocted" report as permeated with a "China threat" theory from start to finish as an excuse to justify expanding US arms sales to Taiwan.

"For a long time the United States has thought of Taiwan as an important chip to contain China's clout, and taken the separation of Taiwan from China as a key to realizing its strategic interests in the region," they said.

The United States remains the leading arms supplier to Taiwan despite shifting its political recognition from Taipei to Beijing in 1979.

Last month, reports said Washington had agreed to ship AIM-120 medium-range air-to-air missiles to the Taiwanese air force to ensure military balance in the Taiwan Strait.

Beijing considers Taiwan part of China that must be reunified and has repeatedly threatened to invade should the island declare formal independence.

The newspapers, however, insisted China was a "peace-loving nation" and would continue along that path, but warned Washington against rocking the boat.

"A healthy Sino-US relationship is not always welcome to some politicians in the US administration and Congress, thus some of them lash out at China when Sino-US-relations turn better," the opinion said.

"To push forward a steady Sino-US relationship that benefits the interests of both countries and world peace, the United States should be careful about its groundless conclusions."

Despite the mutual mud-slinging, China-US relations are considered to be at their best in years.

WAR.WIRE